


We're Here For You

by Armed_With_Knitting_Needles



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Aang's friend's support him, Discussion of Death, Gen, Minor Character Death, Ozai (Avatar) Dies, Real-World Consequences, candid discussion of war
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-07-08
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:15:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25149064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Armed_With_Knitting_Needles/pseuds/Armed_With_Knitting_Needles
Summary: Aang can't kill Ozai. It goes against everything he believes in. His friends have no such problems.
Comments: 14
Kudos: 117





	We're Here For You

**Author's Note:**

> I know there have been other fics like this, but I wanted to post my own. Also, this started out as dialogue practice, so there is a lot of dialogue and not much of anything else.

Aang paced. First was the disastrous fight against the melon lord, and now dinner was devolving as well. 

“This goes against what I learned from the monks,” he tried desperately to explain, “I can’t go around wiping people I don’t like!” He’d lose the rest of his culture if he started doing that. 

“Sure you can,” Sokka said, “You’re the Avatar. In the name of keeping balance, the Universe will forgive you.”

Aang was furious. Sokka’s tone was so disrespectful. He didn’t get it. How could these people - his friends! - be so callous with their regard for life! He whirled.

“This isn’t a joke Sokka!” he exclaimed, “None of you can understand the position I’m in!”

“Aang, we do understand. It’s just--”

“Just what, Katara? What?”

“We’re just trying to help!”

“Then, when you figure out a way for me to beat the Fire Lord without taking his life, I'd love to hear it!” Aang turned to storm off, furious. How could they not understand? How could they possibly think-

“I could kill him instead, if you want.”

Aang whirled to glare at Toph, who shrugged. “It’s not like I haven’t killed before.”

“What?” Aang felt his heart drop. Toph was his age. She shouldn’t be having to deal with this either. 

“Yeah, not all of those Dai Li agents survived. I mean I was throwing people 30 feet and crushing them. I definitely felt some hearts stop. ”

Aang felt sick. He had been there for that. He saw her kill people and he didn’t even know it. 

Toph, clearly not seeing Aang’s inner turmoil, continued, “So, if you want me to be the one to kill him, just say the word. I’ve made my peace, you don’t have to go against the monks.”

“That’s not the point, we shouldn’t be taking lives at all!”

Zuko looked ready to say something biting and Aang prepared to defend himself against accusations of things he couldn’t control, things he’d done in the Avatar state, things he wished he couldn’t remember. However, Sokka spoke first. 

“Look, Aang,” he began and Aang braced himself for a joke, “I wasn’t going to say anything, but I've killed people too.”

“What?” Aang couldn’t believe it. This was Sokka. Sokka who told bad jokes and planned for every eventuality. Sokka who had always been there, had gone to three Air Temples with him, and at least accepted his vegetarianism. He didn’t kill people. But - Aang remembered the sword cutting straight through the Melon Lord's head - maybe he did. All the color drained from his face. 

Sokka was looking at the ground as he started to speak, “You remember the Northern Air Temple? With the invading army?” Oh, spirits, did Aang remember. He remembered the horror of seeing his people’s home desecrated with war machines, too. “And you remember how we used the war balloon engine to blow up the gas and get them to retreat?” Aang nodded. He didn’t like where this was going. “Well, I made sure you and Katara didn’t see it, but a lot of those soldiers died. They fell off cliffs or got blown to pieces. It wasn’t pretty.”

Right, that made a horrible kind of sense. So, Toph and Sokka had both killed. He looked to Suki. She shrugged. “I’m a soldier. I do what I need to. It’s not always nice, but protecting civilians is more important than making sure the enemy survives.”

Aang looked to Katara. Surely she couldn’t have. She wouldn’t… She wouldn’t meet his eye. “The Day of Black Sun,” she whispered. “I threw some people off the watchtowers. I don’t think they survived.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“Not to mention the crewmen you froze on my ship,” Zuko pointed out. Katara looked shocked. Zuko shrugged. “I knew you probably weren’t thinking about it, but you froze over their faces. They suffocated before we could thaw them out.” Silence descended over the group, each person thinking of the people that they might have killed without even knowing it. 

Aang thought about the Avatar state. He’d destroyed ships and crews and people. He set his jaw. No, he didn’t have any control over that. He had never killed a person when it was just him and not spirits and past lives forcing him out of his own body.

Sokka broke the silence. “The point is, if you can’t do it any of us are willing to do it for you.” He got up and put his hand on Aang’s shoulder. “We’re here for you.” Aang appreciated the support, even if he disagreed with the proposed action.

“I don’t know if I can let you do that. Even if I’m not the one killing him, he still dies.”

Toph groaned loudly and slammed her fist onto the ground. “Look at it this way,” she said, more upbeat than the situation warranted in Aang’s opinion, “This is just another kind of pacifism. Instead of killing him, you’re just letting him die. You’re not doing anything.”

Aang frowned. He wasn’t sure. The monks did everything they could to save the lives of those around them. Every life was sacred. Was there really no way to keep everybody alive. Zuko had made fun of him for the glue pots, but Toph was a metal bender, surely if Aang could just subdue him enough. 

Katara stepped forward to put a hand on Aang’s other shoulder. “We know you don't want to go against your people’s beliefs. But it’s action versus consequences. Ozai is a manipulator like Azula. Even if we could imprison him in some fool proof way, we couldn’t guarantee that he wouldn’t find a way that he wouldn’t convince someone else to do his bidding for him.” Aang sagged. Why were all of his friends advocating murder. 

Zuko nodded and Aang glared at him. He didn’t want to hear anymore. Zuko spoke anyway. “My father is a symbol of the war and what it stands for, just as you are a symbol of peace and hope. As long as he’s alive, there are going to be people who will want him back on the throne.”

Aang hated this. He hated that they had a point. “Why!? Why would they want that? The war is horrible.” 

Zuko scowled, like the explanation left a bitter taste in his mouth. It probably did. “There are a lot of people, mostly generals and nobles, that have gained a lot of power and prestige because of the war. There are even more that are afraid of the consequences they’ll have to face as soon as there is peace.” His face softened slightly. “ I’m sorry, but there isn’t an easy way out of this. My father needs to die.”

Aang felt himself slump. He wanted to cry. He didn’t want this. He didn’t want any of this. He needed to be alone. So, he left. 

“Aang!” Katara called after him, her voice almost resigned, “Don’t walk away from this.”

“Let him go,” he heard Zuko say. He retreated to the roof before he could hear the rest. 

The next morning he woke up on an island in the middle of the ocean. 

* * *

Toph stumbled off the airship next to Sokka and Suki. She crunched the Earth in between her toes. She could still ‘see’ on a metal ship, but her metalbending wasn’t quite as good as her earthbending and a ship like that was isolated. It felt wonderful to be connected again. 

Aang stood there like a statue. The crumpled figure of the Firelord in front of him. She stiffened. Something wasn’t right. 

Suki and Sokka had disembarked as well, moving to stand by Aang and offer their support. Sokka put a hand on his shoulder and Suki leaned down in front of the Ozai. 

“Did you, you know, finish the job?” she asked. 

The crumpled form moved, but Toph moved faster. With a quick flick of her wrists, she encased the man in Earth, covering all of him except his face from the nose up. 

“ I found another way,” he said, both desperate and resigned, “I took away his bending. He’s not a threat to anyone, anymore.”

Toph could feel the way his heart beat. She knew it was a lie, at least the threat part, and while he desperately wanted to believe it, he knew it too.

“Twinkletoes, I just took out a fleet of airships with two non-benders, and, to-be-honest, Sokka and Suki did most of the work. Are you sure he isn’t a threat?”

Aang’s heart spiked, but Toph couldn’t feel the satisfaction she usually felt when she caught someone in a lie. 

“I mean,” he started. He stopped. He started again, “He’s relied on bending for his entire life. If we put him in prison, he won’t be able to do anything.”

“And you’re sure. You’re sure he won’t be able to escape, or talk a guard into doing his bidding, or just mess with someone’s mind?” 

Aang hesitated. 

“Aang, do you remember that conversation we had on Ember Island. About how the rest of us were willing to help?”

Aang nodded, but his muscles were tense in a “I’m ready to argue” kind of way and not a “I really don’t want to let you do this, but I’m going to let you” kind of way. That wasn’t great. 

“This is just another kind of pacifism,” she reasoned as gently as she could, “All you have to do is walk away.”

With that, she felt the tension melt out of Aang’s body. He turned away from Ozai and walked toward his friends. 

She could feel Sokka put a hand on Aang’s back and he said, “Come on, let’s see if we can use this thing to get us back to the others,” as he guided them into the airship. “And maybe you can explain that ‘took his bending away’ thing?”

Once Aang and Sokka were inside Toph breathed deeply and widened her stance. She felt Suki squeeze her shoulder. “I’m here, Toph,” she said, stating both her obvious physical position and less obvious emotional support, “If you don’t want to, I have a sword. You’re not alone, either.”

Toph shook her head and smiled softly. “It’s okay. I’m good,” she said, but she did lean back a little into Suki’s grip. The support was appreciated. 

Toph moved her heel five inches to the right. Ozai didn’t even have time to blink.

**Author's Note:**

> Basically I don't like that Ozai lived, but I understand that Aang feels he must preserve his culture and what it stands for. Unfortunately, leaving Ozai alive gives him the opportunity to stir up all kinds of dissent as well as complicates Zuko's claim to the throne. 
> 
> Honestly, I'm just fulfilling ten-year-old me's desire to see Ozai dead, while fulfilling current me's desire to see Aang able to keep his people's culture alive. 
> 
> While not explicitly named, I'm assuming Aang practices deontological pacifism, which asserts that the that the duty to respect life is most important, meaning that killing is forbidden, even in self-defense. However, Aang's philosophy allows him to defend himself and other with violence, but not killing. Most importantly, for this fic at least, he only applies his philosophy to himself instead of pushing it on other. E.g. He is vegetarian, but doesn't push for his friends to be. I think that if push really came to shove and there was no other way out, Aang would kill Ozai, but he has to exhaust all other options first. 
> 
> Constructive criticism is welcome.


End file.
